Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

Men's cycling road race at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
View of the start of the Men's road race.
Venue	Fort Copacabana 241.5 km (150.1 mi)
Date	6 August 2016
Competitors	144 from 63 nations
Winning time	6:10:05
Medalists
Greg Van Avermaet  Belgium Jakob Fuglsang  Denmark Rafał Majka  Poland
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The men's road race was one of 18 cycling events of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The race started and finished on 6 August at Fort Copacabana and was won by Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium. It was Belgium's first victory in the men's individual road race since 1952 and second overall, tying France and the Soviet Union for second-most behind Italy (five). Belgium matched Italy for most total medals, at seven. Jakob Fuglsang won Denmark's fourth silver medal in the event; the nation had yet to win gold. Rafał Majka's bronze was Poland's first medal in the event since 1980.

Qualification

Nations could earn qualification spots primarily through UCI tours. The top five nations at the UCI World Tour earned five quota places, with nations further down the rankings earning progressively fewer quota places. There were also up to three places per nation available through continental tours and championships. Individuals could also earn places if their nation's ranking was insufficient. A few places were reserved for the host nation and Tripartite Commission invitations.^[1]

Background

This was the 20th appearance of the event, previously held in 1896 and then at every Summer Olympics since 1936. It replaced the individual time trial event that had been held from 1912 to 1932; the time trial had been re-introduced in 1996 alongside the road race. Azerbaijan, the Dominican Republic, Kosovo, and Laos each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 20th appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

Pre-race favourites

Due to the grueling nature of the course, the riders expected to finish with a medal were all known for their climbing and descending skills.^{[according to whom?]} Favorites heading into the race were Alejandro Valverde, Vincenzo Nibali, Chris Froome, Joaquim Rodríguez and Julian Alaphilippe.^[2] If Froome had won gold, he would have become the first person to ever win Tour de France and the cycling road race in the same season.^[3]

Course

The men's course was 241.5 km (150.1 mi) long. Starting at Fort Copacabana,^[4] the peloton headed west to pass through Ipanema, Barra, and Reserva Maripendi Beaches via the coastal road leading to the 24.8 km (15.4 mi) Pontal / Grumari circuit loop.^[5] After four laps of the Grumari sector (99.2 km of 241.5 km), the course returned east via the same coastal road to enter the 25.7 km (16.0 mi) Vista Chinesa Circuit loop at Gávea for three laps (77.1 km (47.9 mi) of 241.5 km (150.1 mi)) before finishing back at Fort Copacabana.^[6] As with all road races in the Olympic Games, the athletes are escorted by law enforcement to keep traffic and bystanders out of harm's way. For the 2016 Olympics, escort for the riders is done by the Brazilian Federal Highway Police (PRF).

2016 Olympic cycling road course maps

Schedule

All times are Brasília Time (UTC−3).

Start list

The following NOCs had qualified riders to compete in the road race event. The following riders were confirmed by their respective NOCs.

NOC Number Athletes Ref  Algeria 2 Abderrahmane Mansouri Youcef Reguigui  Argentina 3 Daniel Díaz Maximiliano Richeze Eduardo Sepúlveda [7]  Australia 4 Rohan Dennis Simon Clarke Richie Porte Scott Bowden [8][9]  Austria 2 Stefan Denifl Georg Preidler  Azerbaijan 1 Maksym Averin  Belarus 2 Vasil Kiryienka Kanstantsin Sivtsov  Belgium 5 Philippe Gilbert Serge Pauwels Greg van Avermaet Tim Wellens Laurens De Plus  Bolivia 1 Óscar Soliz  Brazil 2 Murilo Fischer Kléber Ramos [10]  Bulgaria 1 Stefan Hristov  Canada 3 Antoine Duchesne Hugo Houle Michael Woods  Chile 1 José Luis Rodríguez  Colombia 5 Esteban Chaves Sergio Henao Miguel Ángel López Jarlinson Pantano Rigoberto Urán [11][12]  Costa Rica 1 Andrey Amador  Croatia 2 Kristijan Đurasek Matija Kvasina  Czech Republic 4 Jan Bárta Leopold König Zdeněk Štybar Petr Vakoč  Denmark 3 Jakob Fuglsang Christopher Juul-Jensen Chris Anker Sørensen  Dominican Republic 1 Diego Milán  Ecuador 1 Byron Guamá [13]  Eritrea 1 Daniel Teklehaimanot  Estonia 2 Tanel Kangert Rein Taaramäe  Ethiopia 1 Tsgabu Grmay [14]  France 4 Julian Alaphilippe Romain Bardet Warren Barguil Alexis Vuillermoz  Germany 4 Emanuel Buchmann Simon Geschke Maximilian Levy Tony Martin  Great Britain 5 Chris Froome Steve Cummings Ian Stannard Geraint Thomas Adam Yates [15]  Greece 1 Ioannis Tamouridis  Guatemala 1 Manuel Rodas  Hong Kong 1 Cheung King Lok  Iran 3 Ghader Mizbani Arvin Moazemi Samad Pourseyedi  Ireland 2 Dan Martin Nicolas Roche [16]  Italy 5 Fabio Aru Vincenzo Nibali Damiano Caruso Alessandro De Marchi Diego Rosa

NOC Number Athletes Ref  Japan 2 Yukiya Arashiro Kohei Uchima  Kazakhstan 2 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev Andrey Zeits  Kosovo 1 Qëndrim Guri  Laos 1 Ariya Phounsavath  Latvia 2 Toms Skujiņš Aleksejs Saramotins  Lithuania 2 Ramūnas Navardauskas Ignatas Konovalovas  Luxembourg 1 Fränk Schleck  Morocco 3 Anass Aït El Abdia Soufiane Haddi Mouhssine Lahsaini  Mexico 1 Luis Lemus  Namibia 1 Dan Craven  Netherlands 4 Tom Dumoulin Steven Kruijswijk Bauke Mollema Wout Poels [17]  New Zealand 2 George Bennett Zac Williams  Norway 4 Edvald Boasson Hagen Sven Erik Bystrøm Vegard Stake Laengen Lars Petter Nordhaug  Poland 4 Maciej Bodnar Michał Gołaś Michał Kwiatkowski Rafał Majka  Portugal 4 André Cardoso Rui Costa José Mendes Nelson Oliveira  Puerto Rico 1 Brian Babilonia  Romania 1 Serghei Țvetcov  Russia 3 Sergey Chernetskiy Alexey Kurbatov Pavel Kochetkov  Rwanda 1 Adrien Niyonshuti  Serbia 1 Ivan Stević  Slovakia 1 Patrik Tybor  Slovenia 4 Matej Mohorič Jan Polanc Primož Roglič Simon Špilak  South Africa 2 Daryl Impey Louis Meintjes  South Korea 2 Kim Ok-cheol Seo Joon-yong  Spain 5 Jonathan Castroviejo Imanol Erviti Ion Izagirre Joaquim Rodríguez Alejandro Valverde  Switzerland 4 Michael Albasini Fabian Cancellara Steve Morabito Sébastien Reichenbach [18]  Tunisia 1 Ali Nouisri  Turkey 2 Ahmet Örken Onur Balkan  Ukraine 3 Andriy Hrivko Denys Kostyuk Andriy Khripta  United Arab Emirates 1 Yousif Mirza  United States 2 Brent Bookwalter Taylor Phinney  Venezuela 2 Miguel Ubeto Jonathan Monsalve

Results

In the table below, "s.t." indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the cyclist before him, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.^[19][20]

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time
	Greg Van Avermaet	Belgium	6h 10' 05"
	Jakob Fuglsang	Denmark	s.t.
	Rafał Majka	Poland	+ 5"
4	Julian Alaphilippe	France	+ 22"
5	Joaquim Rodríguez	Spain	s.t.
6	Fabio Aru	Italy	s.t.
7	Louis Meintjes	South Africa	s.t.
8	Andrey Zeits	Kazakhstan	+ 25"
9	Tanel Kangert	Estonia	+ 1' 47"
10	Rui Costa	Portugal	+ 2' 29"
11	Geraint Thomas	Great Britain	s.t.
12	Chris Froome	Great Britain	+ 2' 58"
13	Dan Martin	Ireland	s.t.
14	Emanuel Buchmann	Germany	s.t.
15	Adam Yates	Great Britain	+ 3' 03"
16	Brent Bookwalter	United States	+ 3' 31"
17	Bauke Mollema	Netherlands	s.t.
18	Kristijan Đurasek	Croatia	s.t.
19	Sébastien Reichenbach	Switzerland	s.t.
20	Fränk Schleck	Luxembourg	s.t.
21	Esteban Chaves	Colombia	+ 3' 34"
22	Serge Pauwels	Belgium	+ 6' 12"
23	Alexis Vuillermoz	France	s.t.
24	Romain Bardet	France	s.t.
25	Simon Clarke	Australia	s.t.
26	Primož Roglič	Slovenia	+ 9' 38"
27	Yukiya Arashiro	Japan	s.t.
28	Daryl Impey	South Africa	s.t.
29	Nicolas Roche	Ireland	s.t.
30	Alejandro Valverde	Spain	s.t.
31	Sergey Chernetskiy	Russia	s.t.
32	Christopher Juul-Jensen	Denmark	s.t.
33	George Bennett	New Zealand	+ 11' 49"
34	Fabian Cancellara	Switzerland	s.t.
35	Ramūnas Navardauskas	Lithuania	+ 12' 18"
36	André Cardoso	Portugal	s.t.
37	Eduardo Sepúlveda	Argentina	s.t.
38	Pavel Kochetkov	Russia	s.t.
39	Steven Kruijswijk	Netherlands	s.t.
40	Damiano Caruso	Italy	s.t.
41	Andriy Hrivko	Ukraine	+ 13' 18"
42	Philippe Gilbert	Belgium	s.t.
43	Daniel Teklehaimanot	Eritrea	+ 19' 20"
44	Georg Preidler	Austria	+ 19' 37"
45	Patrik Tybor	Slovakia	+ 20' 00"
46	Aleksejs Saramotins	Latvia	s.t.
47	Anass Aït El Abdia	Morocco	s.t.
48	Lars Petter Nordhaug	Norway	s.t.
49	Kanstantsin Sivtsov	Belarus	s.t.
50	Vegard Stake Laengen	Norway	s.t.
51	Ioannis Tamouridis	Greece	s.t.
52	Jan Polanc	Slovenia	s.t.
53	José Mendes	Portugal	s.t.
54	Andrey Amador	Costa Rica	s.t.
55	Michael Woods	Canada	s.t.
56	Michał Gołaś	Poland	s.t.
57	Simon Špilak	Slovenia	s.t.
58	Petr Vakoč	Czech Republic	s.t.
59	Toms Skujiņš	Latvia	s.t.
60	Chris Anker Sørensen	Denmark	s.t.
61	Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev	Kazakhstan	s.t.
62	Michał Kwiatkowski	Poland	s.t.
63	Alessandro De Marchi	Italy	+ 20' 05"
—	Murilo Fischer	Brazil	+ 31' 47"[21]
	Ignatas Konovalovas	Lithuania	s.t.[21]
—	Jonathan Castroviejo	Spain	DNF
	Imanol Erviti	Spain	DNF
	Ion Izagirre	Spain	DNF
	Sergio Henao	Colombia	DNF
	Miguel Ángel López	Colombia	DNF
	Jarlinson Pantano	Colombia	DNF
	Rigoberto Urán	Colombia	DNF
	Warren Barguil	France	DNF
	Steve Cummings	Great Britain	DNF
	Ian Stannard	Great Britain	DNF
	Rohan Dennis	Australia	DNF
	Scott Bowden	Australia	DNF
	Richie Porte	Australia	DNF
	Laurens De Plus	Belgium	DNF
	Tim Wellens	Belgium	DNF
	Tom Dumoulin	Netherlands	DNF
	Wout Poels	Netherlands	DNF
	Vincenzo Nibali	Italy	DNF
	Diego Rosa	Italy	DNF
	Michael Albasini	Switzerland	DNF
	Steve Morabito	Switzerland	DNF
	Simon Geschke	Germany	DNF
	Maximilian Levy	Germany	DNF
	Tony Martin	Germany	DNF
	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Norway	DNF
	Sven Erik Bystrøm	Norway	DNF
	Maciej Bodnar	Poland	DNF
	Jan Bárta	Czech Republic	DNF
	Leopold König	Czech Republic	DNF
	Zdeněk Štybar	Czech Republic	DNF
	Denys Kostyuk	Ukraine	DNF
	Andriy Khripta	Ukraine	DNF
	Matej Mohorič	Slovenia	DNF
	Ghader Mizbani	Iran	DNF
	Arvin Moazzami	Iran	DNF
	Samad Pourseyedi	Iran	DNF
	Nelson Oliveira	Portugal	DNF
	Abderrahmane Mansouri	Algeria	DNF
	Youcef Reguigui	Algeria	DNF
	Stefan Denifl	Austria	DNF
	Soufiane Haddi	Morocco	DNF
	Mouhssine Lahsaini	Morocco	DNF
	Taylor Phinney	United States	DNF
	Rein Taaramäe	Estonia	DNF
	Zac Williams	New Zealand	DNF
	Antoine Duchesne	Canada	DNF
	Hugo Houle	Canada	DNF
	Vasil Kiryienka	Belarus	DNF
	Kohei Uchima	Japan	DNF
	Kim Ok-cheol	South Korea	DNF
	Seo Joon-yong	South Korea	DNF
	Jonathan Monsalve	Venezuela	DNF
	Miguel Ubeto	Venezuela	DNF
	Matija Kvasina	Croatia	DNF
	Daniel Díaz	Argentina	DNF
	Maximiliano Richeze	Argentina	DNF
	Cheung King Lok	Hong Kong	DNF
	José Luis Rodríguez Aguilar	Chile	DNF
	Adrien Niyonshuti	Rwanda	DNF
	Maksym Averin	Azerbaijan	DNF
	Serghei Țvetcov	Romania	DNF
	Luis Lemus	Mexico	DNF
	Onur Balkan	Turkey	DNF
	Ahmet Örken	Turkey	DNF
Kléber Ramos	Brazil	DNF
Ali Nouisri	Tunisia	DNF
Stefan Hristov	Bulgaria	DNF
Manuel Rodas	Guatemala	DNF
Byron Guamá	Ecuador	DNF
Ivan Stević	Serbia	DNF
Tsgabu Grmay	Ethiopia	DNF
Diego Milán	Dominican Republic	DNF
Dan Craven	Namibia	DNF
Óscar Soliz	Bolivia	DNF
Qëndrim Guri	Kosovo	DNF
Brian Babilonia	Puerto Rico	DNF
Yousif Mirza	United Arab Emirates	DNF
Ariya Phounsavath	Laos	DNF
Alexey Kurbatov	Russia	DNF

References